“I’m Julia from the Marquess Bennett’s family.”

“Lady Bennett. I’m glad to have this conversation with you. It makes me happy that you even blessed me, saying that love will stay.”

So I could very leisurely retort, ‘Thank you for blessing my love with the emperor.’ It was a possible response because I had already acknowledged that my status was lowly.

For a moment, there was a crack in Julia’s perfect smile, but she quickly regained her composure.

“Don’t mention it. I hope Lady Mercedes and I can get along well in the future.”

“It’s an honor. My lady.”

“Hoho. Ah, right. It seems like you’ve been making funny jokes since earlier. Don’t mind the reactions of others. The room is a place of freedom, so the time will come when your jokes will be accepted, Lady Mercedes.”

It was a remark that ‘despite the room being a place of freedom, your jokes are excessive.’ At the same time, the ladies around began to whisper, as if trying to curse the ‘vulgar woman.’

But before their slander could grow, Mercedes widened her eyes and nodded.

“I really hope so. But I think I’m quite tame compared to the habits of prison guards… Ah! This is a joke too.”

“……”

“You seem quite surprised. I’m truly sorry. You see, His Majesty finds it very amusing when I joke as if I’ve really been to the underground prison. So I thought it would be okay at the banquet too.”

Mercedes deliberately threw out an absurd joke, adding the fact that she ‘didn’t go to the underground prison’ and the nuance that the ’emperor’ likes it. The former was a story that was difficult to directly verify.

And the latter… was a story that couldn’t be better for scratching the inside of the lady standing in front.

Julia had thought that she was the one who would sit on the empress’s seat from the day she was born. She had always been certain. She also considered it a blessing from God that her marriage partner was a beautiful man like Carlos.

But then that wench appeared.

No matter how much the empress’s seat doesn’t seek love, marrying a man with a concubine, a man with a murderer concubine at that, was a miserable thing for a woman.

‘… That. Vulgar thing! As if she’ll just become a concubine. Lowly and lowly criminal!’

Julia was so annoyed by the wench in front of her eyes that she felt like she was going crazy.

She was favored by the emperor, and she was so beautiful that people’s gazes kept turning to Mercedes. Also, she doesn’t back down from a single word.

‘… But now I can’t curse that wench’s jokes.’

The emperor likes Mercedes’ jokes. That means that if you pick on the jokes, you’re insulting the emperor’s taste.

So Julia tried to turn her eyes and find fault with Mercedes’ behavior or greeting etiquette.

But really strangely, even while showing such extreme jokes and innocent stupidity, Mercedes displayed perfect etiquette.

She greeted at the exact angle and elegantly lifted the glass to offer drinks. Only one joke was extreme, and all her actions were graceful and perfect like dancing, so no one could find fault.

“I learned a lot from you today, Lady Bennett. Thank you. Your etiquette is truly outstanding. I’m so lacking.”

And finally.

Mercedes, with her perfect etiquette, drove the final nail.

‘Etiquette praise’ was a good greeting, but it was against etiquette because it was something a superior does.

But Mercedes cunningly lifted up Julia, saying ‘I learned a lot,’ pretending to keep etiquette while mocking Julia, whose etiquette was not as outstanding as her own.

I’m not sure if that was her intention, but at least that’s how it sounded to Julia.

‘Your etiquette is really nothing special.’ Like that.

“… Don’t mention it. I’m honored that you learned from me.”

“You’re humble.”

Mercedes now cut her words short, unlike before, as if she had seen enough.

Since there was no more fault to be found with Mercedes, whose words had become short, Julia had no choice but to back down.

“I’ll… get going now. Have a good night, Lady Mercedes.”

Julia was angry.

She thought that if she pointed out the fact that Mercedes was a murderer and created a flaw, that wench wouldn’t be able to do anything, that she would stupidly burst into tears!

That she would be despised in high society and eventually the emperor would have no choice but to abandon her, didn’t her mother who received a secret letter from the empress dowager say so?

But when she pointed out that the woman was a murderer, she brushed it off, saying, ‘You’re right. The underground prison was terribly bad. I almost died every day too. Oh my, I’m joking!’

Making it impossible to even know if she’s a real murderer or not.

‘Why is her etiquette perfect when she’s so stupid? Did His Majesty really put in that much effort? Does he really love her that much?’

Julia Bennett had outstanding talent in managing her expression, so she was still wearing an angelic smile.

But in her heart, she gritted her teeth, defining Mercedes as a newly emerged enemy.

Everyone knew that Mercedes’ etiquette wasn’t something that could be learned in a day or two.

The ladies who participated in the banquet thought as they watched Julia backing down first after talking to Mercedes.

‘Julia and her group backed off? If I pick a fight, I won’t even be able to pick the bones. I’ll just order some pearls. I didn’t know it was such a pretty gem.’

And after Julia left, a few times, women who were desperate to pick a fight chased after her.

However, it was far fewer than Mercedes had expected before she arrived. It seemed that Julia’s retreat was quite a shock.

And the women who chased after her were defeated so easily that it was boring.

‘Go wild, Mercedes.’

Mercedes kept recalling Carlos’s words as she won the fights.

The reason Carlos was able to speak as if believing in her and unleashing a fierce dog was simple.

Because women’s social fights were something that happened as naturally as breathing, and the side that made a big deal out of it often had their honor tarnished and was treated as a foolish person.

The battle in women’s high society could be seen as a matter of quick wit, wit, and the superiority of eloquence.

So as long as you keep the line, it doesn’t matter how much you ‘run wild.’

This was all thanks to Mrs. Fisher’s teachings and the very good textbooks around her.

Leopold and Carlos.

The way Leopold corrected secret letters, the way Carlos sat her in the library and continued his work as if nothing had happened. There was a lot to learn from observing the two of them.

Mercedes used a solitary cell in the underground prison. She had never even met another prisoner.

But when she admitted it like this and lied, everyone seemed to think she would tremble with anger, so they were dumbfounded and didn’t leave.

Admitting it this way and laughing in a hearty, clueless-looking way was Carlos’s method. He was a really good textbook.

“Ahem! I’ll see you again next time. I’ll get going.”

“Please go in, madam. See you again.”

With that, Mercedes’ battle for the day ended, as she responded with a smile to the rebuke of the noblewoman who covered her mouth with a fan.

Now, most people just watched her and didn’t come to her.

‘I… did it.’

The strength drained from her body.

But she was skilled at always maintaining an upright posture, so she didn’t slump down or let her posture falter.

Just the sense of liberation that came with the disappearance of tension.

Also, while feeling a strong sense of elation that she had succeeded in blocking the words of her opponents by acting differently from her usual self.

‘It’s fun.’

It was fun.

It was partly because she won the fight, and partly not. She was simply happy that she could do something and actively move.

In fact, there might be the heart of a barbaric warrior dwelling inside her. Of course, it was trivial to compare fighting with words to the bravery of such warriors.

Mercedes just thought that she would not forget this excitement. And she quenched her throat, which had become hoarse from talking too much, with champagne.

‘Should I now at least pretend to look for today’s friend?’

The probability of her making a friend today was close to zero. But since she didn’t come just to fight, she had to show some gesture of seeking friendship to a certain extent.

Moreover, she hadn’t been able to talk to Nadia because of the people who had been rushing to pick fights since earlier.

She had exchanged glances with Nadia, but whenever she tried to move her steps to meet her, other ladies kept intervening.

Nadia seemed to have tried to intervene once in the middle… but at some point, she just stepped back.

‘Maybe she doesn’t think we’re close enough to help.’

It was hard to know.

Still, if she chatted with Nadia about ‘today’s pearl prowess,’ she would probably think they were close next time.

As she moved her steps towards Nadia, Carlos, who noticed it like a ghost, approached.

“Is it time for me to come back now?”

“How did you know? That’s amazing.”

“Because I can’t see anyone but you. I could notice it right away. Hmm. It seems like my partner did very well today. Am I right?”

“… Perhaps. I think I did well. What did Your Majesty gain today?”

“I…,”

Carlos thought for a moment and smiled.

“I think I gained your smile today.”

“Pardon?”

“Your smile looks very natural. You look happy, Mercedes. If I had known that you were a warrior who enjoys fighting, I would have brought you out much earlier.”

Come to think of it, Mercedes was smiling even after people had backed away. It wasn’t Mercedes putting on a forced smile, but a genuine smile because she was in a good mood.

“Me, a warrior? It’s not that great.”

Even though she had thought the same thing, Mercedes shook her head. Carlos gently stroked her hand as he walked beside her.

“No, you were greater than anyone else, and above all, valiant. Even the warriors of the desert wouldn’t be as good as you.”

His playful words of praise sounded very nice. Her heart floated up as if she had been waiting for praise without realizing it.

He scratched and lifted her up on a very small part that she had thought was trivial compared to warriors.

How does he know this every time?

She felt a perfect sense of satisfaction.